Scout receives 60-year Service Pin that belonged to his mentor

Lee Dennis never thought he’d see another Boy Scout Troop Leader receive his 60-year Service Pin.

About 10 years ago, Dennis remembers when his assistant scoutmaster Everett Sherron received his 60-year pin. Sherron’s longevity and dedication to Scouting never would be matched, Dennis figured.

But on Tuesday night, Dennis, 75, of Madison Twp., received his pin, and what made the ceremony more meaningful, was the pin belonged to Sherron, who died last year at age 100.

MORE: Middletown’s Everett Sherron, a lifetime Boy Scout, dies at age 100

Sherron’s daughter, Anne Lapham, 72, of Monroe, said she owns two of her father’s Service Pins — his 60- and 70-year — and she figured no one deserved to own her father’s pin more than Dennis.

When he found her father’s 60-year pin, she knew “right where that pin should go.”

Then she added: “He and my dad were real close.”

As Lapham presented the pin to Dennis, he fought back tears as members of Troop 18 gave him a standing ovation at First Baptist Church in Middletown.

“It means a lot to because it belonged to Everett,” Dennis said after the Troop’s Court of Honor.

Dennis said he rarely wears pins on his uniform. He will make Sherron’s pin an exception, he said.

Toward the end of Sherron’s Scouting career, Dennis drove him to meetings because he was unable to drive.

Dennis said his brother, who later became an Eagle Scout, pulled him “by the ears” to his first Boy Scout meeting in September 1954. He stopped being active when he attended Miami University, then rejoined Scouts in 1972 after he graduated.

He has attended World Jamborees in Canada and England and traveled around the United States because of his affiliation with Boy Scouts of America.

“Scouting made a big impact on me,” he said. “I grew up with it and knew the values. What Scouting stands for and what they teach you.”

When he thinks of Scouting, he cherishes the good times and friendships he made with the young Scouts. His goal is to pass on what he learned “to the next generation.”

About the Author